2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix

mpicco

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Let's get this rolling...

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What the hell was Vettel thinking???
I wouldn't be surprised if he got a 10 place grid penalty for next race
 
"When did I do dangerous driving?" he asks.

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"We don't see this sort of thing these days in Formula 1" in regards to working on the car in the pitlane during red flag after crashing out and getting back in the race.

There's why. Raikkonen gets a penalty.

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"One of the races of the decade."

Don't get ahead of yourselves. Just race stoppages and penalties on a cramped track.
 
Most of the "excitement" in this race was due to random accidents mostly due to the track not being a proper venue. Too narrow, marshals running around like headless chicken trying to clear the bits of carbon and not even getting all of them causing more punctures, circuit on the shadow of many buildings causing tyre temp problems exacerbated by a safety car which just can't lap fast enough.

It's not like I like predictable parade races in which the finishing order is pretty much the qualifying results, but results like this, scrambled eggs due to a shit ton of crashes... that doesn't make a good race to me, if I wanted that I'd watch Indy.

That said well done for Stroll, although I'm not sure how he lost 2nd, also Alonso finally getting some points.

Vettel, what can I say. It was a stupid move, he threw away the win with that.

Hamilton was being an annoying little shit again though, playing race steward and throwing tips to the race director all through the race?
You're not in charge of how things are run, keep your complaints for later, the safety car is going as slow for you as it is for everyone else.

From the regulations:

39.5 No car may be driven unnecessarily slowly, erratically or in a manner which could be deemed potentially dangerous to other drivers or any other person at any time whilst the safety car is deployed.
 
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He had a point though, a vsc enabled them to keep on top of temps a lot easier
 
All rather farcical, IMO, but happy at the podium.

I don't think Vettel's move was intentional, but I agree with the penalty as if it was, a statement needed to be made that it was not acceptable and if it was not, he should have kept his cool - and kept control of his car.
 
FIA says Hamilton drove normally through that corner. Guess that settles it.

Vettel will be lucky if he doesn't get a race ban, or something.
 
I don't know, bumping a competitor at 2mph doesn't strike me as particularly dangerous, nor uncommon to anyone that watches other forms of motorsport. Stupid, yes, but dangerous? Meh. The FIA allowing the cars to run with open cockpits is infinitely more dangerous to the drivers than anything Vettel did in this race, if you ask me. The 10 second stop and go seemed appropriate enough.
 
I don't think Vettel deliberately hit Hamilton, I think he was just so annoyed that he didn't notice the car drift into him. I can understand why he was so annoyed though, I am sure, everyone on that grid including Hamilton if they were in Sebastian's position would have thought "He just brake tested me". On the restart you are itching to get the jump on the guy in front of you and that was to be Vettel's opportunity to take the win from him but he follows him through the corner and suddenly he's just stopped immediately out of the corner and you have front wing damage! What the hell do you expect him to think!? It's easy to talk about keeping cool from the comfort of your couch but in the heat of the race jumped up with adrenaline and concentration this is easier said than done.
He was just fortunate to pick up the time he needed to take the stop go and stay ahead of Hamilton who fell behind due to his headrest coming loose.
Gutted for Raikkonen though, they managed to get him out on track but he was a lap down so I guess he was unlikely to be able to Un Lap his way back into the points, especially when he was given a penalty.
 
I'm guessing with Raikkonen and Perez they were waiting for another SC to unlap themselves, when they saw there would be none, they just retired the cars and took the advantage of being able to change some parts without penalties for next race.

As far as Vettel goes, I also think he only meant to drive up to Hamilton, hand gesture him, maybe kinda do a flick to get nearer but he either overcooked it or misscalculated it or something, don't know if he was actually trying to crash into him. The 10 second also seemed fair to me. People in other places asked just why was it fair that he could "do that" and finish ahead? Well, that falls onto Mercedes for not securing the headrest properly during the red flag, without that mistake, Hamilton would be 1st and Vettel 5th, seems like a proper penalty taking away so many points.
 
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As far as Vettel goes, I also think he only meant to drive up to Hamilton, hand gesture him, maybe kinda do a flick to get nearer but he either overcooked it or misscalculated it or something, don't know if he was actually trying to crash into him. The 10 second also seemed fair to me. People in other places asked just why was it fair that he could "do that" and finish ahead? Well, that falls onto Mercedes for not securing the headrest properly during the red flag, without that mistake, Hamilton would be 1st and Vettel 5th, seems like a proper penalty taking away so many points.

yep, i agree with that sentiment...



anyone else getting a bit annoyed by Perez? what did he expect Ocon to do?
last race Perez proved he won't move over at all, even if it means the team can get a better result, so of course Ocon will take the smallest possibility to get in front!
if Perez allowed Ocon to have a go a Ricciardo last race, Ocon might not have been so desperate to overtake this time around...
 
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Yeah, Perez is not a team player nor is he an outstanding talent to justify being so pedantic. Will be very disappointed if the rumors are true about his move to Ferrari some day.
 
And so it continues...

FIA launches investigation into Vettel clash with Hamilton

The FIA has decided to hold a formal investigation into whether or not further action is required against Sebastian Vettel following his controversial clash with Lewis Hamilton behind the safety car at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Amid ongoing suggestions that motor racing?s governing body was not satisfied with the 10-second stop-go penalty handed to Vettel for his part in the move, the FIA confirmed on Wednesday that the situation was being looked into again.

A spokesman for the FIA said that evidence would be evaluated next week and a decision on whether or not more action is needed will be made before the next race at the Red Bull Ring.

A FIA statement said: ?Following the recent incident at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in which Car 5 (Sebastian Vettel) was involved in a collision with Car 44 (Lewis Hamilton), on Monday 3rd July, the FIA will further examine the causes on the incident in order to evaluate whether further action is necessary.

?A statement regarding the outcome of this process will be made available before the upcoming Austrian Grand Prix.?

The collision

Vettel?s clash with Hamilton came ahead of the second safety car restart in Baku, when he was angered at what he felt was a brake-test from the race-leading Mercedes car.

The German pulled alongside Hamilton and veered his Ferrari into the side of the Mercedes car ? banging wheels with his world title rival.

The race stewards concluded that Vettel had driven in a potentially dangerous manner with his move, and elected to hand him a 10-second stop-go penalty.

Analysis of Hamilton?s telemetry by the stewards, to see whether or not he had done anything wrong, confirmed the Briton had acted correctly and that there had been no brake testing.

Shortly after Vettel had taken his punishment, Hamilton came on the radio to complain that he felt the sanction had not been enough.

In a message aimed at F1 race director Charlie Whiting he said: ?The 10-second penalty is not enough for driving behaviour like that. You know that Charlie.?

Later on, Hamilton told media that he felt the punishment should have been greater to help set an example for junior categories.

Vettel denial

Vettel himself refused to acknowledge after the race that he had done anything wrong ? and suggested that banging wheels with Hamilton had been an unintentional consequence of waving his fists at his rival.

Amid growing suggestions that there was unease at the penalty, the FIA has now decided to look again at what happened to better understand if a heavier sanction is needed.

Last year Vettel escaped being hauled up in front of the FIA?s International Tribunal for having used foul language against Whiting at the Mexican Grand Prix.

But in a statement issued by the governing body after the decision was made not to take the matter further, because Vettel had apologised, it warned that the door was open for action to be taken if events repeated themselves.

It said: ?The FIA takes this opportunity to advise that, in the event of any future incident similar to the one that occurred in Mexico, disciplinary action will be taken by bringing such incident before the FIA International Tribunal to be judged.?

While the use of bad language is not central to the case here, Vettel's defiance in not accepting he has done anything wrong could be an issue.

Should the FIA decide on July 3 ? which happens to be Vettel's birthday ? that further action is required, then a Tribunal meeting would be likely.

Sanctions could include a race ban.


I'm honestly baffled by how big of a deal everyone is making over this. Especially Hamilton, who should be grateful, since Vettel would have won the race had he not done what he did, and Lewis would have finished off the podium no doubt and be at an even greater points deficit. But instead he's playing it up with bullshit reasons to try and get Vettel banned for a race to help him in the championship. It's really quite pathetic.
 
Well of course he can't miss any chance of having Vettel score 0 points for a full race, that could decide the championship at the end.

However how about a penalty for Hamilton for believing he can dictate penalties from his cockpit? Telling Charlie what he should do, deploy virtual safety car instead of the real one, telling him to speed up the SC, just so pedantic. Do we need a rule saying drivers can't tell the race director what to do?
 
Finally. I do agree with Hamilton though, a VSC made more sense to keep the tyres warmer. The SC couldn't go quick enough for F1 standards
 
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